


Seeking Clarity

by DxTURA



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28244310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DxTURA/pseuds/DxTURA
Summary: Local Guitar Girl has a crush on Shy Boy. She tries to sort her feelings out in this one.September Fiverr Commission!
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 1
Collections: Urbinazation Works





	Seeking Clarity

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone, thanks for reading!!!  
> This fic was requested by a buyer on Fiverr. Should they no longer want it up on AO3, they can request me to remove it at any time!  
> I hope you enjoy!

Nothing prepared Natsuko for the amount of pride that surged inside of her during the contest.

After she attended the contest and played her little heart out, the guitar girl was announced as the second place winner. She received a cute and tiny silver brooch that she pridefully pinned to her chest, and had her notebook containing the lyrics signed by the contest judges themselves. They were all music professionals that she really looked up to; honestly, anymore compliments and she _probably_ would have found herself fainting _at_ the stage then and there.

Natsuko really felt like she was getting somewhere with her music. She felt like she finally accomplished a major goal, and there was absolutely nothing in the world that could take away this confidence… but she couldn’t give herself _all_ the credit.

After all, if Kenma hadn’t come to that sleepover, then… she probably would’ve flopped.

Kenma’s willingness to listen to her sing is what gave her the confidence to keep on going. Despite his claims of not having _any_ sort of musical knowledge whatsoever, he was still able to pinpoint where she needed to slow her lyrics down and where to pluck her strings. There was a part in her song where Natsuko strained her vocal chords _every time_ , and he was able to come up with a technique that let her hit the long note _and_ still allow her to upkeep the momentum of the song with ease.

She had asked him where he had learned all this. He said he didn’t, and that it just came with years of playing rhythm games. Oh, to be a gamer and only learn things through YouTube and the like…

Still, dramatic whines and jokes aside, Kenma was an asset to her. His honest words (“ _I just really liked your music_ ”) alongside his commendation (“ _I think that’s really cool, actually_ ”) were enough to make her _really_ consider pursuing music outside of school.

But then there came a problem. A problem that only immature teens, and ants on the side of the road have to worry about.

Was she – you know – catching some form of _feelings_ for him?

Natsuko wasn’t the type to worry about love—or maybe she was, and it just wasn’t the right time to do so. At first, she thought the burning embarrassment that nearly made her throw her guitar away was because someone had barged in to her room. It had happened _way_ more often than she liked to admit, and she was honestly considering looking into some sort of voice-activated lock on the door, but…

But the more and more she analyzed that scenario, the more she realized she _only_ freaked out as hard as she did _because_ it was Kenma.

Kenma Kozume was a cute boy. He was quiet, sweet, and there was a lot more he was interested in than what he led on. He played video games (something she _adored_ ), he did very well in volleyball (everyone on his team liked him), and just seemed very laid-back in comparison to many of the other boys she set her heart on once upon a time.

The issue she had with her brain fumbling around with all this information is the fact that she honestly felt this way about a _lot_ of her friends. She grew close to them because of how honest they were with themselves, and she would do anything in order to keep those people in her life close.

So, maybe she didn’t have to worry about anything. Maybe she _wasn’t_ crushing, and had some major admiration for him. Yeah! Yeah, that’s definitely it…

Natsuko told herself that – regardless of what happened – Kenma’s support would only linger in her head for so long. She had no reason to worry about it so much. The lingering pressure of potentially going to college for an office job _had_ eaten at the back of her head for so long; maybe her brain was just trying to figure out how to contain this excitement?

She kept telling herself all these things in hopes that they would ring true, but then the days just got… kind of awkward.

Summer classes started, and in the four weeks that she was doing work she found herself answering questions she _knew_ the answers to completely differently. There was one whole week where her teacher teased her in front of the whole class because she wrote “Kozume” on the board when was explaining the structure of an English sentence to the rest of her class. A journal that she endlessly doodled in to keep herself awake ended up having chubby-faced chibis of Kazuma on the corners. And if that didn’t end her morale for the entire season, then it was the fact that some of her classmates snatched her planner off the floor when she dropped it.

The planner had notes on inviting Kenma to another sleepover in the far, far future. She _begged_ them not to start any rumors.

When Natsuko found that she couldn’t turn to her classmates for an easy distraction anymore, she started calling some of her friends over after school to play instruments together. They had texted each other about a band jam contest coming up in the spring, but Natsuko had been on the fence about participating up until recently.

There was absolutely _no_ way she could get distracted while she vibed to the music she composed. _No way_.

Natsuko and her friends spent most of the weekends writing up lyrics and trading them with each other. Whatever synced together was typed up onto a word document. Whatever didn’t, was highlighted on paper and ignored until they needed to come back to it and tried again. It took about two of their weekends together to get something that really stuck out, but it _looked_ like it was working. The gamer boy was slowly slipping out of her mind, and it helped that she didn’t see him as often as she saw the others.

The three girls came together to set up a practice date in Natsuko’s backyard, so they spent the last weekend of the summer classes doing that.

Natsuko kept her trusty bass in hand while her two friends utilized their electric keyboard and drum set, respectfully. It was a change of pace when it came to instrumentals, but that didn’t mean it was _bad_. The idea they hatched up so far sounded like a really good idea.

The keyboardist took out some sodas from the ice box she brought over and did not hesitate to throw some cans at Natsuko and their drummer friend.

They each popped open their can, clacked them together, and gulped it down.

“Awright!” Natsuko’s keyboard friend was _way_ too excited about all this, “Nothing beats the sharing of soda at practice jams, right guys?”

Drummer girl pushed up her glasses and shook her head. “Too much sugar and you’re gonna end up falling asleep. Did you bring something other than soda this time?”

“I brought three bottles of water.”

“Three— _Yuki_ , that’s _literally_ not going to be enough! Don’t you realize how hot it is today? Why do you think I told everyone to come in tank tops?!”

“You worry too much, Kanna. It’s not like we’re singing something straight off of BABYMETAL or anything.” Yuki turned to Natsuko, “Right, Natsu? You agree with me, right?!”

Natsuko eyed Kanna instead. “My parents bought a big jug of water if you feel your throat drying out, Kanna—”

“—You guys have no faith in me! How cruel...” Yuki dramatically swung and arm over her head and fell to the floor.

The three of them laughed it off and finished their sodas in high spirits. They took moments to themselves to make sure each and every instrument was pristine, before setting up the amplifiers and microphones nearby. They weren’t gonna perform to the whole neighborhood by any means, but it would at least let them know right off the bat if they were entirely off-key.

It wasn’t long before they started playing, and boy oh boy were their instincts were _completely_ correct when the melody danced about in their ears.

Each of them had a journal nearby that they could look over the longer the song went on. Each of the girls had their own lines to practice, their own moments to jump in, and when they all needed to sing as a collective. In the midst of their vocalizing they would cheer each other on; there was even a moment where Kanna went all out on the drums and made her own little solo part that they made a mental note to add in the final draft of the sheet music.

Everything was fine—everything was _great_. Yuki sang, Natsuko sang, Kanna sang… Yuki, Natsuko, Kanna. Yuki, Natsuko, Kanna. Their pitches weren’t perfect, but that could be adjusted. Yuki, Natsuko, Kanna.

Yuki, Kanna, Natsuko.

Kanna, Natsuko, Yuki.

Natsuko… _Natsuko…_

...Natsuko stopped singing.

It wasn’t a soft pause and it wasn’t the end of the song just yet. The guitar girl just… _stopped_. The lyrics that she wanted to recite didn’t come out of her mouth, and instead she just stood their with her lips flapped open like a koi fish. Absolutely _no_ sound was coming out of her mouth, and the instrumentals – which slowed down at some point – finally halted to a stop.

The girls looked back at their friend, whose face was just _unreadable_ in the given moment.

Natsuko was having fun, that wasn’t the issue. The issue was the fact that, somewhere down the line, Kenma’s words invaded her brain.

The longer the song had lingered, the longer she was thinking about singing to him in her room. She fondly recalled how he idly swayed to the sounds of her strumming while he was playing a mobile game. She remembered when he told her to sing louder and higher. The compliments, the reminders, the “good job”s and the “well done”s…

Natsuko found herself getting hit in the head with one of the water bottles.

“ **Ow**!”

“Uh, earth to summer girl. You flubbed the entire _thing_! How did you mess that up?!” Yuki whined and placed the bottle into one of Natsuko’s feeble hands.

“I just—I dunno, I got thrown off by something! I thought the words came out of my mouth.”

“Actually, you just stared up to the sky like you had won a gachapon or something,” Kanna giggled. “It was kinda funny. I’ve _never_ seen you do that in your life.”

Yuki huffed. “The only time I’ve seen her do that is if she went to the store and purchased a new game or an album. Seriously, you good?”

“Uh...” Natsuko pouted. She wasn’t good at all.

“Jokes aside, if there’s something you need to tell us...” Kanna set her drumsticks into her ponytail and wrapped her arm around the guitar girl’s shoulder. “We’ll listen, honest! Besides, we’ve been worried. We’ve heard a lot recently...”

“W-worried?”

“Yeah, you’ve been acting strange apparently. Ever since the concert happened. Wanna, uh,” Yuki smooshed her face into Natsuko’s, “Wanna tell us what’s going on, Natsu?”

Ohhh, _now_ she had done it. Not only had she made her friends worry, but she also made them suspicious of her actions. And she knew that once _Yuki_ got suspicious, that girl would do some massive dirt digging in order to find the answer.

She did this when Natsuko tried to hide her birthday from everyone, and ended up inviting _literally_ all of her friends into a very crowded, very chaotic birthday party. The cake went flying, and she never quite forgot that. It was the talk of the town of their entire class, after all.

She would have to consult someone about this at _some_ point. She might as well do it now.

“Okay, okay, okay—get _off_!” She shoved them both to the side. “Look, if I tell you what’s going on will you _promise_ that you’ll keep it a secret? You guys have the tendency to spill the beans on everything...”

“I mean, if it helps us practice then I’m not gonna say a damn thing.” Yuki leaned onto one of the garden benches Natsuko had in her backyard. “Go on, out with it. Tell us what’s going on.”

“Comfort _first_ , Yuki!” Kanna huffed and pat her guitar-strumming friend on the back. “Go on, go on! Tell us what’s up?”

“Okay, well...” Natsuko took a deep breath; this wasn’t exactly _easy_ , and she didn’t want them to laugh at her. Still, it was now or… in like, a week at the absolutely worst time. “Don’t laugh, but this is what’s been happening recently that has been weighing on my mind...”

She spilled the beans. She told them all about the sleepover, what Kenma said, and how he reacted when he first saw her. She recounted the amount of weird predicaments she put herself in through each of her three classes that she took over the summer, and how music hasn’t quite felt the same. She talked about the many ways that she tried to distract herself, but – just like today – they always seemed to come back and smack her right in the face. It was awkward and kind of funny at first, but now it was just becoming a nuisance. It was giving her anxiety. The whole shebang.

She constantly questioned herself on her intentions and thoughts, and she wasn’t sure how to sort through them at _all_.

When Natsuko finished telling her story, she couldn’t help but notice a couple of things. One was the fact that Yuki finally took a chill pill, while Kanna was _completely_ the opposite.

If anything, Kanna was _way_ more interested in Natsuko’s problems now then she seemingly was before she told the story.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!” She pushed her circular rims up every time they slid down, “You have a crush on Kozume-san? That’s _so_ cute! I had a feeling ever since you texted us that you two were the only ones that played games together, but ooooh!!”

Yuki took another swig of her soda. She couldn’t help but shake her head.

“Dude, if you had boy problems, you should’ve told us sooner. Although, I’m not gonna lie: saying his name in the answer of an English class is _really_ funny. We should put that in the school’s yearbook.”

“D-do _nooooot_!” Natsuko hid her face in her shirt.

“Oh, but Natsuko, you can’t deny it any longer. You _totally_ have a crush on him. Have you told him? Does he know?”

“I-I don’t think he does...” She scratched the back of her head. “Guys, he’s already told me that he isn’t interested in a relationship, I don’t think we should...”

“But things can _change_!” Kanna was _not_ the type to interrupt so eagerly, so it was a shock to see it. “Trust me, trust me! Look, I have an idea. It’s the _cheesiest_ idea in the world, but you’re gonna like it.”

Natsuko wasn’t sure about that, but she listened.

“Why don’t we stop practicing for awhile, and help you write a love song instead? Address it to him—ooh, ooh! We could make it _subtle_. If he likes your singing so much, then confessing to him with a song is _perfect_ , Natsy!”

_Natsy_? Oh boy, Kanna was off her rocker…

Still, even if the drummer girl was going a little _too_ crazy with the idea, it wasn’t inherently bad. Natsuko had a habit of showing how she felt about her loved ones in creative ways, and the concept of writing a song wasn’t too bad. It was related to her interests and – even if he didn’t reciprocate – she could at _least_ save the song to look back on. That’s what she did with all of her old work.

Kanna, Yuri, and Natsuko adjourned practice for that day and instead sat at the dining tables to put their brains to work. Normally the three of them would decide what kind of instrumentals would go with it first, but it was _all_ about the lyrics this time around. Composing would take a lot of its own work, but it wasn’t going to give Natsuko a headache.

And even if it did? She had her friends to help her. They had already made it clear that she wasn’t allowed to do anything by herself unless it came down to the confession.

At first, Natsuko wasn’t quite sure what to focus on. She thought a song about his gaming habits would work out, but then decided it wasn’t a good idea. What if he got self-conscious because of all the games he played? He was already considerably teased for having so much fun, so it wouldn’t have made any sense to continue to do the same thing. She suggested writing a song about his favorite game, but that would also require a lot of research. There were so many YouTubers that had done something similar, but a love song was just out of the question for her.

Then she thought about volleyball, but remembered that he only really played because of his friends. It gave him newfound motivation sure, it just didn’t give him the same kind of sparks that being in solitude with his hobbies did. Every time she started writing some of her feelings, she found herself flustered and frantically waving her hands in the air. Any more teasing, and she would have found herself burned out for the rest of the day.

They mulled about in their heads for so long, they didn’t realize the sun was already setting. Yuki was usually the first one to head home in that regard.

“Sorry...” Natsuko hid her face in her arms, “This is really dumb. And embarrassing. I thought _love letters_ were hard, but this really takes the cake.”

Kanna had found some chips in the pantry, and had munched away for quite some time. “Songs are _basically_ love letters when you think about it.”

“I mean, y-yeah, but… At least I can write and fumble about my feelings in those. I can’t really do that with a song.”

“I think you’re focusing too hard on what he likes, and less on what _you_ like about _him_ ,” Yuki pointed out, “anyone can write about a gamer. Everyone’s feelings towards a person, however, are a lot different and a lot more intricate.”

Huh. Natsuko never really thought of it like that.

She was so worried about how she sounded in front of other people, that she never thought to convey it on paper. If it was visible, _everyone_ in the room could’ve seen the light bulb that went off in her head.

“Feelings, that’s right! Oh my gosh, Yuki, you’re a _genius_!” She grabbed her friend by the shoulders. Yuki screeched.

“I’m literally only giving you the most logical answer, what do you _mean_?”

“Whatever, it’s just—good thinking!! I think I can handle it from here,” The guitar girl looked outside the window, “It’s getting late… Do you guys want me to walk you to the bus stop?”

“Oh, crap! It’s already 8? Time flies, and mom’s gonna _kill_ me.” Yuki fumbled around for her phone. “Kanna, we should get packing.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right… my parents don’t really care, but you probably need some time to think for yourself huh?” She wrapped up the chips, clipped them closed, and hastily made it towards the backdoor. “I hope we didn’t overwhelm you too much, Natsuko.”

“No, you’re fine! I really do appreciate the ideas!...a-and the lack of judgment! Trust me, I thought I was going to _die_ when I told you guys how I was feeling.”

“Yeah, well. Next time, let us know _before_ we start practicing again? Honestly, now we’re just gonna have to push back the schedule and—”

“Oh, don’t be such a nag.” Kanna giggled, “Natsuko’s sanity was on the line! Besides, the Spring Fling thing? That’s not until April.”

“...Wait, I thought it was gonna be late February?”

“They moved it.”

Yuki pursed her lips and then looked back to Natsuko as she carried her keyboard to the front door. “You’re off the hook _this_ time.”

The girls laughed it off for a little while before they said their farewells. Natsuko made sure Kanna perfectly secured her drum set on the back of her bike before she left. Didn’t want them to fall and have to pay hundreds of yen for new equipment, after all.

And when they finally said their farewells, Natsuko wrapped her favorite bass back into her guitar case and walked into her room. She had a bunch of pens in her mouth and her journal nearly slipped out from underneath her arms, but hey. Work was work!

Now that she got the reassurance from her friends, she would have to think long and hard about what she was going to write for the rest of her night. Kindness was already going to be part of the song – that was straightforward enough; there were just a lot of other things that she wanted to cover about him in that song alone.

She wasn’t gonna sleep—not tonight, anyway. She would worry about how to stay up later. For now, she decided that making a large cup of coffee would do her some good.

It would calm her nerves as she worked through the rest of the night.

🌸🌸🌸

Natsuko’s “one all nighter” turned into three over the course of a week.

At first she had about a page and a half of lyrics, and that was fine. That was the perfect length to create a song out of, and all she would have to do is find a flow that would work with them. She consistently texted her friends (Yuki kept yelling at her to sleep and hydrate herself through it all), and they would give her perfectly solid feedback. It was a completely symbiotic relationship – at least, not counting the amount of coffee that she had drank in the span of the day.

But as time went on, she found herself more and more distraught. She started _hating_ what she wrote. She was under the impression it didn’t _work_ with the message she wanted to convey, and even over thought a few words that were initially “perfect” by her standards. She was going nuts.

Eventually, her infectious friends _did_ stop by her house again in the middle of the week. This time, though, they didn’t come with their instruments.

They came with their laptops and five CDs.

When asked about the occasion, Kanna initially lied and said that it was for “Christmas.” Yuki spilled the beans over a nice cup of tea.

“We knew you were going to focus really hard on the lyrics, so Kanna and I decided to focus on composing the actual _song_ instead.”

“We listened to like 20 hours of love songs. _20_. Do you know how many types of love songs are out there? Not enough that my Spotify playlist can hold them all,” Kanna whined, “most of them were super cheesy, too. Not even the cute kind of cheesy, they were just… _barf_.”

“In any case, we think you should give them a listen. It’ll be worth it, trust me.”

Natsuko felt tears prick the corners of her eyes. What great friends she had.

“Guys, I… I don’t know what to say...”

“Don’t say anything, just listen to the flow.”

And that’s what they did. They spent the entire lunch listening to each CD at least three times. They compared and contrasted what they liked and didn’t like about each song, and took notes at different intervals of each to see what they could piece out of it.

They eventually spliced a few notes together that really worked, and that alone gave Natsuko the inspiration she needed to finish her writing.

Outside of practicing the song on the guitar, there was just one teeny, tiny issue that the girls had to deal with: Kenma. How were they supposed to get his attention?

Kanna rubbed her chin. “Well, Kozume-san is close with Kuroo-san, right? They’re practically like blood brothers. We could try to ask _him_ to get the boy’s attention.”

“Eh? Rooster Head? Isn’t he kind of intimidating, though? That haircut and those eyes...” Yuki stuck her tongue out. “Freaky.”

“Oh, don’t say that about him! He’s actually quite nice,” Natsuko rolled her eyes, “but I still don’t see why we should bother him for help. He’d probably think we’re weird, a-and he’d probably tell Kenma-kun...”

“Then what do you propose we do? Have you play the song during a match?”

“No…” Natsuko bit her lip, “But, I think I have an idea. There _is_ one place Kenma likes to idle around.”

“Where?”

“The steps near the road. He loves sitting there. Like, a lot.” She pulled up a map on her cellphone, “People tend to leave him alone. If he doesn’t see us setting up, and only hears me singing… I think I could pull this off. Maybe.”

🌸🌸🌸

Natsuko texted Kenma and told him to wait for her in the area, but she never stated why. She and the squad hid the best they could until he was  _somewhat_ in their view, and that alone was the single to put the plan into motion.

It was kind of weird at first. They were close enough to where – if he wanted to – he could spot and approach them to ask a bunch of questions. At the same time, there was _no_ way that he could hear or see them; they looked like ants with all the distance between them!

Setting up was easy—at least, until, they had to sneak to Kanna’s drums into the grass patch. She nearly tumbled down the stairs with them because she was way too excited on what they were going to do for her. They were acting as if the two lovebirds were already ready to confess or something.

This was probably the quickest they had set up. Yuki had only brought one microphone, and had told Natsuko that she was “legally required to be the only one” that used it for today’s session. Nice way to make her anxiety spike today, but whatever. There wasn’t ever a time Yuki _didn’t_ do that to some degree.

Once they made sure everything was set up, they got into position. The guitar girl idly strummed at her guitar as she looked back to her friends.

“I-I’m not sure if I can do this...”

Kanna fixed her glasses. “You can do it, Natsy. We believe in you!”

“Yeah. And even if you fail, we’ll be there to drown out your sorrows with ice cream!”

Kanna nearly threw her drumstick at the abrasive girl.

Natsuko was quick to calm them down and get them back on track. This was already nerve-wrecking enough; she did _not_ need anything else ruining her attempt at confessing her feelings.

Eventually, the three of them _did_ start to play the music. And when the three of them played, Natsuko felt the whole world around her change again.

Her love letter—her _ode_ said so much about Kenma and his personality. It talked about how she adored every small smile he carried on her lips, and every single inquiry about his friends’ well-being. She gushed about his interests, and how she shared some, too. She prayed that he didn’t think she was overbearing, and that being with her was a lot of fun…

Heck, there was a point that she even found some lyrics of hers improvised. Unscripted and harmonious in nature. They weren’t jarring and they didn’t break the tune in any way, but it was something she didn’t think would have come out of her.

She didn’t even _blush_ when it happened – her confidence was full force. She would do anything to get his attention, even if it meant that she would get rejected and they would never speak again.

...Though, she had to admit. She _really_ had to watch what she wished for.

“Natsuko?”

Kenma’s voice alone stopped her from singing. The song wasn’t even _over_ yet.

The boy gawked at her, but his voice was unreadable. His jaw dropped, his eyes were widened, but there wasn’t really a hint of blush on his face. If anything, his face was _paler_ in comparison.

Did she… did she do something wrong?

“Ah, K-Kenma-kun—! What a surprise to see you here!” An outright _lie_ , but she was gonna roll with it. The other girls scuttled away as soon as they could.

The silence between them was horrendous, and they weren’t even sure how to handle it.

Who was supposed to talk first, him or her? What would they even say?

Still, Kenma seemed to be the braver of the two. He slipped his phone into his pocket and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You were.. singing again, right? Um…” He scratched his head and looked to the floor. “For what occasion? I thought you won the contest...”

“Ah, second place.” Natsuko spoke a lot faster than normal, “Y-you see, there’s someone out there I, um… I-I really like! S-so, I wanted to… I thought it would be best to… you know. To write a song.”

“Oh. I see...” Kenma went quiet again. His fickle fidgeting – while cute – really made Natsuko want to scream at him in the moment.

He sounded like he wanted to talk more, so why wouldn’t he say what’s on his mind? She knew he was silent, but never to this extent.

“...Natsuko, if I ask you something that might seem _really_ dumb, you won’t get angry, right?”

Oh no. She had read a lot of manga to know where this was going. Was he going to confess right here and now? Was he going to tell her to get out of his sight?

She swallowed away her encroaching insecurities. “Uh, no! O-of course not! Why would I get angry, I would never get angry—”

“ _Natsuko_...” He wasn’t convinced.

“I promise, I promise!”

“Alright.” Kenma took a deep breath and a couple of steps closer. It was only the microphone separating the two of them now; any closer, and Natsuko would’ve felt like _dying_.

“Natsuko, do… Do you… D—” His voice cut out in between each attempt. “Is there… ah, geez.”

He had completely turned his back to her by the time the words came out of his mouth, “Is there a possibility that you like Morisuke on our team?”

Eh? _Eeeeh_?

_Morisuke_?! _That’s_ what he got out of it?!

Yaku Morisuke wasn’t a _bad_ kid by any means, but he just _wasn’t_ her type. Every time she saw him, he was angry about something or another. They had similar energy, sure, but she would never date him by _any_ means.

She had to stifle her laugh. God, that was the most _out there_ guess he could’ve made.

Natsuko vehemently shook her head. “Never! Not in a million days. How did you come to _that_ conclusion?”

“Well, you uh… you compared him to a marshmallow, so...”

Natsuko covered her mouth. Oh my god. She said a _s’more_. Kenma’s hair reminded her of a _s’more_. How did he miss that?

Kenma tilted his head as she snickered somewhere in the midst of his explanation. “S-so I was wrong?”

“Completely!”

“Then, who?”

“ _You_ , silly!” She squished her cheeks with both of her hands. “I’ve liked _you_. You’re, um, _kind of_ a big deal to me and… err… I think it’d be cool if we were together, or something.”

“So, my initial guess was right,” Kenma finally donned that same fleck of blush he had at the sleepover. “S-sorry for, um… sorry for doubting you.”

Natsuko said nothing more, and instead threw the remaining equipment to the side to sweep Kenma into the biggest hug she could muster. This wasn’t one of those smooth Otome game confessions that she had heard so many times, but it was still a _confession_ to some degree. He still felt some type of way for her.

She had so much she wanted to ask—so much she wanted to  _say…_ but she couldn’t. Nothing came out. Instead she thought it was in her best interest to merely bathe in his warmth before her friends came out of the bushes to tease her.

She didn’t realize how happy she was; she wondered if Kenma felt the same. They would have to have a long talk about their feelings in the future, but for now? Hugs.

Hugs will do.


End file.
